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Samaritans respond to PTC graffiti with paint of their ownTue, 06/24/2008 - 4:03pm
By: John Munford
Residents asked to be on lookout for ‘graffiti in progress’; video systems in the works Graffiti bandits are continuing to strike in Peachtree City, but over the weekend at least one local Samaritan, perhaps more, struck back. Using paintbrushes, they worked quickly to cover up graffiti that was found early Sunday morning on the gazebo at the Three Ponds Park off Peachtree Parkway South early Sunday morning, said Randy Gaddo, director of the city’s leisure services division. Such a quick response from the unnamed good Samaritan(s) shows the people do care about rectifying the blight of graffiti, Gaddo said. Citizens are already showing signs of a heightened alertness to graffiti, Gaddo said. In fact, the officer who came to the scene of the Three Ponds graffiti was doing so because a citizen reported the fresh marks to her while she was on foot patrol near the KMart area, Gaddo said. Citizens are encouraged to report any suspicious activity to police in an effort to catch the perpetrators in the act. Residents are urged to make sure to carry their cell phones, even when out walking their dog for example, as one never knows when they might stumble on graffiti in progress. Gaddo suggested residents should be on the look-out for anyone out of place in a recreation area, such as someone near a sports facility who isn’t playing that sport. The city is working on getting video surveillance active at all its facilities that hopefully can be used to catch graffiti suspects. “Our goal is to have video capability to cover all of our parks and fields,” Gaddo said. Gaddo said he happened on the scene at Three Ponds Park early that morning while teaching his 13-year-old son to operate a golf cart. The police officer took a report, and the city’s parks monitor came by at 1 p.m. to photograph the damage. Instead, the monitor inspected the handiwork of the anonymous citizens who took the graffiti battle into their own hands. Gaddo said while he was at the scene with the officer about three or four different citizens came by to speak, saying they were thankful the city was trying to curb the problem. Perhaps one or more of those people was responsible for the new paint job, Gaddo said. “I don’t know if it was done by one of those neighbors,” Gaddo said, adding that he was thankful and that more citizen input is needed to help police catch those responsible for the graffiti. The graffiti problem has grown exponentially this summer, officials have reported. More recreation centers were hit over the weekend, and investigators are working to identify the perpetrators, police said. Meanwhile, police have noticed a spike in residents reporting graffiti, said Capt. Rosanna Dove. Some of those calls are of areas where graffiti has already been found, Dove said. login to post comments
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